3 of 4 Delco senators backs school voucher bill; passes first test

Three out of four Delaware County state senators voted Wednesday in favor of Gov. Tom Corbett's bill that would provide vouchers to low-income students in poorly performing public schools and enable them to be educated elsewhere.

The vote was 27-22. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, and Sen. Ted Erickson, R-26, of Newtown, favored the bill as did Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, D-8, of Philadelphia, who represents part of eastern Delaware County and co-sponsored the bill. Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, of Upper Merion, who represents Radnor and Haverford, opposed the bill.

The bill must now move onto the state House of Representatives for consideration.

Leach said he supported the Educational Improvement Tax Credit so children could attend better schools than those in their neighborhoods, but he objects to what has been dubbed Senate Bill 1 because of the way it funds vouchers.

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"Every dime of each voucher comes from the school a child leaves. That means that after a number of children migrate to better schools with their vouchers, all the children remaining at the old, under-funded school will have to struggle along with even less money than they had before," said Leach.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted down Leach's amendment to the bill that would have prevented children from being discriminated against for school voucher eligibility because of sexual orientation. He noted that the bill does not require any school to take or keep any child.

"Schools can cherry-pick the best or perhaps the most athletic kids and reject the rest. They are also free to discriminate against kids based on things like sexual orientation and willingness to participate in specific religious services," said Leach.

Erickson voted against Leach's amendment because he felt discrimination was already sufficiently addressed in the proposal, but he strongly favored the bill.

"We have over eight years increased the education budget by 40 percent and we still have a number of failing schools," said Erickson. "What this bill targets is the 5 percent of the lowest-performing schools and they have consistently been not performing."

He explained that both public and private school administrators can opt out of participating in the voucher program and can limit the number of voucher students they will accept. Erickson noted that some school districts such as Upper Darby, are already overcrowded.

On Oct. 11, Corbett proposed taxpayer-funded vouchers, which he called "opportunity scholarships," as a way for low income students in Pennsylvania's worst-performing school districts to get a better education. The vouchers could be used at private, religious or public schools.

How Much Would Vouchers be Worth?

Here are the approximate amounts of a voucher that a public school student in one of Pennsylvania's lowest-performing schools could use to pay for tuition to a private or parochial school, under a proposal passed Wednesday by the state Senate.

The 17 school districts listed are home to at least one of 143 schools that meet the definition of the lowest performing in the bill that was passed.